Press Release: Commission consults to review and extend the new approach

The European Commission on 13 June 2006 launched a public consultation seeking the views from all interested parties on improving the 'New Approach', in particular in the areas of conformity assessment, accreditation, CE marking and market surveillance. The so-called 'New Approach', initiated in 1985, has been very successful in enabling manufacturers to sell their products throughout the EU, provided the products meet required levels of safety. With this consultation the European Commission now envisaged setting rules common for both New Approach and the traditional method of technical harmonisation (the so-called 'Old Approach', under which a full set of technical specifications is required) to improve efficiency and implementation.